The production date is difficult to identify, the size of the ingredient list is "pocket", and the bundled sales block the "shelf life" Beijing Youth Daily reporter investigation -
food labels are difficult to distinguish "true content"
"Excuse me, can you help me find the date of production of this milk? What date was it produced? The characters are too small for me to read..." Have you ever encountered an elderly person asking for help when you went to the supermarket?
Ever see an elderly person shopping with a magnifying glass?
As the "main force" of offline physical department store consumption, when many elderly people go shopping, especially when buying food products, the illegible food labels on some prepackaged products have become a stumbling block for them to buy products.
In response to these phenomena commonly reported by the elderly, a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily recently visited some supermarkets in Beijing and investigated the labels of nearly 40 products such as milk, yogurt, milk tea, mineral water, chocolate, black sesame paste, and children's snacks. It is true that some products have the problem of illegible labels: the production date of some products is difficult to find and recognize, and the ingredients and ingredients of some products are in a small font and match the color of the packaging. Information is "hidden"...
survey one
The production date is hard to find and difficult to recognize, and the outer packaging is "mixed and matched"
The production date and shelf life are the information consumers pay most attention to when purchasing products, and are closely related to food safety.
During the investigation, reporters from Beiqing Daily found two major problems.
First, although the production date has a fixed area, it is difficult to distinguish because the color is too light or the contrast with the background pattern of the packaging is small.
In front of the shelf of Souhang Supermarket (Xiluoyuan Store), Ms. Zhang, a consumer, was worried that she could not find the production date of the product: "The production date is clearly written on the bottle cap, but why can't I find it?" The product Ms. Zhang is buying is Hongrun brand red oil Pixian Douban. The net content of each bottle is 500 grams. At first glance, there are no words on the top of the golden bottle cap and around it.
The Beiqing Daily reporter took the product to a bright light and adjusted the angle repeatedly, and finally found a line of laser-sprayed words on the top of the bottle cap. The color of the font is the same as the color of the bottle cap. 12/23”, and this series of numbers cannot be read all at once, and it is necessary to constantly adjust the angle to read them in sequence.
The text is slightly raised if touched by hand.
"My presbyopia can't even adjust the angle. The production date has become 'Braille'!" Ms. Zhang complained.
It's not uncommon for products that indicate the production date label area but are difficult to identify.
In Carrefour (CapitaMall Grand Canyon Store), a reporter from Beiqing Daily saw an amber walnut kernel of the "Orchard Old Farmer" brand. The center of the bottom of the can is a circular dark blue area, and the production date is "hidden" in it. The font color is almost the same as the dark blue background. If you don't put it in a bright place and adjust the angle to look carefully, it will be difficult to see.
In addition, the production date of Ershang Baiyu brand duck blood tofu is marked on the front of the box, but due to the use of laser coding, the contrast with the background pattern of the packaging is not obvious.
The same problem also occurs in the packaging of bottled beverages.
For example, a Baisuishan "Bianwang" bottled soda soda sold in Wumart Supermarket (Shuangchuang Center Store) has the production date printed on the gray glass bottle below the bottle cap, but the font color is also gray, even if you look closely It is also difficult to see the text above, and the words "20201224" can be vaguely seen.
Baisuishan "Bianwang" bottled natural mineral water, the production date printed on the blue transparent glass bottle is also difficult to distinguish.
In addition to the above-mentioned difficulty in distinguishing between the font color of the production date and the background color of the product packaging, there are also products whose production date is not obvious due to the "too flowery" background pattern.
A reporter from Beiqing Daily saw in Carrefour (CapitaMall Grand Canyon Store) that a Sichuan-style sausage claypot rice pot marked the production date on the top of the pot with a spray code, but in addition to the product name, the top of the pot is also covered with The colorful pattern background, the production date is white and black, and the font is very thin, so there is no sense of existence in front of such a fancy background.
See the front of the package, see the back of the package, see the bottom of the package, see the bottle body, see the marking place... The Beiqing Daily reporter also found the second major problem: some products have a wide range of production dates, and it is very expensive to find. It takes time to search carefully.
Not only is the labeling position random, but the font direction of some production dates is also crooked, which adds a lot of difficulty to consumers.
For example, there is a "Tang Bohu" brand of original Ceylon hand-brewed milk tea. Its outer packaging has an orange background and is wrapped by a layer of plastic wrap.
The product information on the cup body indicates that the production date is marked on the shrink film, but there is no fixed area.
A reporter from Beiqing Daily compared three cups of the same milk tea and found that the production date was marked in different positions: some were printed on the product name, some were printed on the right side of the product name, and some were printed near the product information description.
The same problem exists with Xiangpiaopiao brand milk tea. Some production dates are marked on the bottom of the cup, and some are marked on different positions of the shrink film on the outer packaging.
Of course, Beiqing Daily reporters also found in the investigation that many products have a special area to print the production date, which is convenient for consumers to identify.
For example, Orion brand Q-Ti, Glico brand Pocky biscuits, Jiangzhong monkey mushroom biscuits, Jinluowangzhongwang premium ham sausage, etc., all reserve white areas on the sides and bottom of the packaging box or packaging bag, which is different from the packaging. The background color is in sharp contrast, and the production date is marked in black text, which is easy for consumers to identify.
Survey II
"Pocket Small Characters" Test Eyesight "Character Sea"
In addition to the production date and shelf life, various ingredients in the food ingredient list are also important references for consumers to purchase products, such as raw milk, reconstituted milk, sugar content, food additives... These information consumers need to see clearly before they can click Purchase required.
However, a reporter from Beiqing Daily found in the investigation that some label fonts are very pocket-sized, and the content seems to be extremely detailed and "should be marked with all the marks", but the actual key information is submerged in the vast "sea of words".
In the Wumart supermarket on the first floor of Tiantongyuan Guotai Mall, a reporter from Beiqing Daily randomly selected several products and checked the logo text on the outer packaging. It was found that the size of the logo text on the outer packaging of the products was not uniform: some The fonts are large and clear, but some of the logo texts are pocket-sized. Young people need to get close to their eyes to distinguish them carefully to see them clearly, while old people need to use a magnifying glass to barely see them clearly.
Taking milk, which is in great daily demand, as an example, in the face of many milk brands, consumers often focus on understanding the protein and calcium content when purchasing.
On the outer packaging box of Telunsu pure milk, the nutritional composition table is marked in the blue area on the side of the carton. The white font looks clearer, but the text in the table is only about two millimeters wide, which is not suitable for the elderly with bad eyesight. That said, it takes a lot of effort to see clearly.
Similarly, on the outer packaging of a box of Anmuxi Greek-style yogurt, different contents are marked on different sides. Among them, the three words "Amuxi" are each about 7 mm wide and 8 mm long, but the ingredients and nutrition In the ingredient list, although the combination of blue words on a white background is still eye-catching, the length of each word is only about 2 mm and the width is only 1 mm. It is really difficult to see clearly at once.
The Beiqing Daily reporter found in the investigation that the more information consumers care about, the more difficult it is to find on the product packaging.
For example, the southern black sesame paste prints the ingredient list and nutritional content list on the crevice area of the bag, and consumers have to search for it for a long time to see the detailed information.
An imported dark chocolate does not have the words "Cocoa Butter Substitute" on the front, but only "Maruga Salty Cocoa Butter Dark Chocolate" in the description area on the back, and the font is extremely small, and it is difficult for consumers to distinguish carefully Note the words "cocoa butter substitute".
In addition to products sold in supermarkets, online shopping products also have the same problem.
The Hsu Fu Ji Xiaowan Pancakes purchased by a reporter from the Beiqing Daily from the online mall, the huge packaging bag with labels with ingredients, nutrients and other contents probably occupies less than one-tenth of the area.
On the white label, except for the brand name, which looks relatively large, the width of the ingredients of the pancake itself, allergen reminders, and words in the nutrition list are only 1 mm wide.
Survey three
Key information is blocked and bundled sales have "traps"
Multiple ham sausages tied with transparent tape, bottled yogurt packed in gift bags, whole packs of soda... Consumers who often visit supermarkets know that the phenomenon of bundled sales of bread, yogurt, milk, soy products and other foods is relatively common in major supermarkets. universal.
A reporter from Beiqing Daily found that some merchants deliberately took a trick to make sales easier. They only marked the production date on the packaging, but avoided the expiration date. Most of the customers just took a quick look at the packaging and threw them into the shopping basket when choosing. Someone will look carefully to see if there is an expiration date, how long the shelf life is, etc.
On the bread shelf of a supermarket, six loaves of peach and plum puff pastry were packed into a "family size" plastic bag, with a prominent yellow label on the shelf that read: "March 11-17, peach and plum cream puff pastry. Crust bread is 10 yuan for 6 bags." The Beiqing Daily reporter noticed that this "family pack" can only see the production dates of 2 pieces of bread, and the production dates of the rest of the bread are either blocked by large fonts on the outer packaging bag, or are You can't see it in there at all.
In front of another shelf not far away, a reporter from Beiqing Daily saw that 10 bulk Shuanghui chicken sausages were tightly wrapped with scotch tape, and only the production date could be seen on the outer skin of individual sausages.
Buy two get one free, buy one get one free... In the yogurt sales areas of major supermarkets, the phenomenon of buying a gift is very common.
A reporter from Beiqing Daily saw in the above supermarket that two boxes of yogurt under the Sanyuan brand it sold were bound with tape and marked with the words "buy one get one free". When the production date of the top layer of yogurt is reached, the production date of the lower layer of yogurt is completely hidden.
Other yogurt brands sold in the supermarket, such as Yunuo fermented milk, Yili old yogurt, and Junlebao simple yogurt, also have the problem of blocking the production date of some products due to the purchase and gift activities, and cannot display the identification information of each product. .
In the refrigerated cooked food sales area of the supermarket, a Shuanghui elbow flower ham sausage was bundled with a porcelain bowl, and the two were firmly entangled with adhesive strips, and the production date of the ham sausage could not be seen at all.
In the bulk food area, although jelly, biscuits, sugar and other small snacks are individually packaged, the small food that has been combined by the store staff is put into a plastic bag and sealed, making it difficult for consumers to see each small food. production date and ingredient list.
In addition to food, there is also a problem of difficult to distinguish the shelf life after bundled sales in daily necessities, such as Mr. Wei Meng's kitchen special package, Shufujia foam hand sanitizer special package, Sha Shi Lian Black Bright Nourishing Anti-dandruff Shampoo... All are original manufacturers Produced buy-one-get-one-free special packaging, but they all cover the production date of the product.
follow up
Food labelling will have clearer requirements
Are there specific standards for prepackaged food labels?
When will these real-world problems faced by consumers be resolved?
The Beijing Youth Daily reporter learned that at present, the market supervision department mainly has two basis for the label management of prepackaged food, namely the "General Rules for the Labeling of Prepackaged Food" and the "Food Safety Law".
Compared with the "Food Safety Law", the "General Rules for the Labeling of Prepackaged Foods" has more detailed regulations on the content of labels.
What is a food label?
That is, the text, graphics, symbols and all instructions on the food packaging.
Article 2 of the basic requirements of the "General Principles" clearly states that food labels should be clear, eye-catching and durable, and should be easy for consumers to identify and read when purchasing.
For this basic requirement, what are the specific quantitative standards for text size?
It is mentioned in the "General Rules" that when the maximum surface area of prepackaged food packaging or packaging container is greater than 35 square centimeters, the height of the words, symbols and numbers of mandatory labels such as production date and shelf life, ingredient list, and net content shall not be less than 1.8 mm. .
The date labeling is also covered in the General Rules, for example, the production date and shelf life of prepackaged food should be clearly labelled.
If the date label is in the form of "see a certain part of the package", the specific part of the package should be marked.
Date marking shall not be additionally affixed, reprinted or tampered with.
Article 67 of the "Food Safety Law" also stipulates that there should be labels on the packaging of prepackaged food.
The label should indicate the name, specification, net content, production date; ingredient or ingredient list; producer's name, address, contact information; shelf life and other 9 items.
The Beiqing Daily reporter noticed that although the relevant laws and regulations stipulate that the production date and shelf life should be marked on the specific part of the packaging on the food label, there is no clearer regulation on this, which is similar to "see the code". Is this description feasible?
In addition, the relevant laws and regulations do not clearly stipulate that the label text and the background color of the packaging are similar and cannot be identified.
A reporter from Beiqing Daily found in the investigation that many "pocket characters" did reach 1.8 mm or even 2 mm, but it is still not easy for the elderly to see clearly.
A reporter from Beiqing Daily learned that in order to further standardize food labeling, as early as July 2020, the "Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Food Labeling (Draft for Comment)" was publicly solicited on the website of the State Administration for Market Regulation.
Although this measure has not yet been issued, relatively specific requirements for the size and clarity of food labels can be seen in the draft for comments.
Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of the China Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association, said that the trademarks and slogans of the products produced by some companies will always make consumers clear at a glance, and put them in the most prominent and obvious position, while the production date, The shelf life, ingredients and other important information that are beneficial to consumers are weakened, which is obviously not conducive to safeguarding consumers' "right to know".
In response to this situation, Chen Yinjiang said that an honest enterprise should put the rights and interests of consumers in the first place, and put the key content that consumers care about in a more prominent position. A small food label reflects the operation of the enterprise. At the same time, he also called for the revision of standards and the introduction of new regulations on food labeling issues as soon as possible to restrict the behavior of enterprises, and law enforcement departments should also increase enforcement efforts.
This edition of the article / reporter Wang Wei Wang Bin Zhao Tingting Li Jia